Jim Johnson picked up a Game 2 save but was better recognized as being a human incendiary device in Game 1, the guy who blew the save in Game 3 for the Orioles out of the bullpen in the ALDS against the Yankees.
But none of that mattered last night in the 13th inning when he came on to protect the slimmest of leads for the Orioles.
“Obviously, it bothers you for a little bit. That’s human nature,” said Johnson, who worked a 1-2-3 inning getting Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and pinch-hitter (for Alex Rodriguez) Eric Chavez in the 13th as the Orioles forced a Game 5 showdown with a 2-1 victory. “I’m never going to beat myself up too bad because I’ve put the effort forward, put the work in. Everything I put into it, I’ve left it all out there so I can’t be upset if I make a bad pitch.
“I’ve done everything I can, except maybe I made a mistake. So you trust everything you do and the next day you come back out and trust yourself again,” Johnson added.
On this night, Johnson looked like the guy who led the majors with 51 saves and not like the guy who had two incredibly rough days. Johnson anchored the tail end of a Baltimore bullpen that worked 7 1/3 scoreless innings and surrendered four hits while striking out six.
Johnson ticked off the names of the guys who kept the Yankees at bay and the Orioles in the game, hoping for a run finally arrived in the 13th.
“It’s everybody together. You don’t look at one guy, you look at the whole group collectively,” he said.
Manager Buck Showalter agreed about the share the load and reap the benefits for all approach.
“I think it’s because we’re able to pass the load around,” Showalter said. “We have so many guys.”
At the end of last night, it was Johnson, the guy who surrendered the critical ninth inning homers to Russell Martin in Game 1, to Raul Ibanez in Game 3. Johnson just shrugged at the pressure and the tension that goes with the setting. Been there, done that.
“All these extra inning games [Baltimore is 17-3 this season, all losses to the Yankees], all these close games, obviously this was fitting, the type of game we played all year,” Johnson said. “It gives us good practice to win when we get to this point of the season because we’ve been there. It’s not necessarily playoff experience, but we’ve been in these type of games and we can draw on that experience.”